Tuesday, August 31, 2010

The Cardinals are imploding in the NL Central and Cincinnati has opened a six-game lead over the Red Birds.

St. Louis is currently on a three-game losing streak. Last week, the Cardinals lost series to the lowly Pirates and the Stephen Strasburg-less Nationals.

Meanwhile, the Reds have run five of their last eight, expanding its lead over St. Louis.

In the Triple Crown chase neither Albert Pujols nor Joey Votto are letting up. Pujols leads the National League with 35 homers and 95 RBIs and is currently third with a .318 batting average.

In Cincy, Votto is second with a .325 average, third with 32 home runs and second with 94 RBIs.

West

The Padres have faltered, losing five straight. San Diego lost a weekend series to Milwaukee Aug. 20-22, then won two versus Arizona and hasn’t won since. San Diego is facing the last-place Diamond backs again, and need to get back on track.

The Giants trail in the Wild Card race by 1.5 games. San Francisco has a losing record over its last 10 games and has fallen behind Philadelphia. Andres Torres leads the National League with 42 doubles.

East

The Braves are riding a three-game winning streak and lead the Phillies by three games in the East. Tim Hudson won his 15th game and has the best ERA in the NL at 2.24.

Martin Prado hasn’t slowed down after a stint on the disabled list, he is batting .316 with a league-best 156 hits and 88 runs scored.

The Phillies are the current Wild Card leader. Roy Halladay is among the best NL pitchers in the major categories. He has 16 wins and a 2.27 ERA. He’s pitched 214 innings, the most among all Major League pitchers.

The NL East is seeing some of the most dominant pitching right now Hudson (2.24), Halladay (2.27) and Florida’s Josh Johnson (2.28) boasting the best ERAs in the NL.